The Climb
by D-ZombieDragon
Summary: Ellis is alone. His friends had sacrificed themselves to keep him alive. Going back to Virgil,he realizes how much he cared for the three he called family,and how they cared for him. Little does he know,there's one more surprise/N-E Friendship. NOT slash.


**Hey y'all! I was listening to this song one day, when this idea suddenly popped into my head! I really hope you like this!**

**Please note that ****t****his is NOT a Nellis fic! I do read them, yes, and I don't have a problem with them, but I don't write them. Now that that's out of the way, let's get on with****the fanfic****!**

******Edit:******** I recently recieved a message regarding me using the lyrics for the song in one of my fics. To be honest, I've made many songfics in the past and I've never had an issue. Those who have read my stories from day one would know that. However, I don't wanna risk getting banned, so I'm gonna be removing the lyrics from ALL of my songfics, and replace them with a line where they can be imagined to be instead. I will still say what song inspired me to do the specific fic, but no more lyrics. Don't wanna take any chances, so thanks for understanding** :)********

_**The Climb**_

_**(Lyrics)**_

Ellis sat in the safe room, alone and injured. He didn't know what to do. He had already lost Coach and Rochelle due to a Tank, now he was separated from Nick thanks to said Tank. And he couldn't just go out and look for his missing comrade. The hurricane-like storm was raging outside, making it almost impossible for anyone to see, let alone tread through it. He refused to believe that Nick was dead, but deep down, he knew the truth. Even though he and Nick never really got along, they were there for each other when they needed to be. Now there was no-one there with him. No-one except himself…

_**(Lyrics)**_

_(Flashback)_

"_Quiet, y'all. I hear a Bitch," Coach whispered._

_The team froze. How they were all able to hear the Witches in this storm, they didn't know. Ahead, they saw the Witch sitting cross-legged on the ground nearby, her sobbing louder than the storm itself. The rain poured onto the sobbing Infected. She showed no reaction, as if the rain wasn't bothering her at all._

"_How are we going to get past her?" Rochelle asked quietly. "She's right where we need to go."_

"_I know," Ellis whispered. "See tha' pipe over there? We can climb up there onto them fuel tanks, and avoid the Witch and the flood altogether. Tha' is, 'till we have to get down again."_

_The others soon agreed, as it was their only plan at that point. They jumped onto the pipe, traversed across the fuel tanks, and jumped off on the other side. The Witch still sat there, undisturbed._

_The group sighed in relief, but they were not out of the woods yet. The Witch still had a chance of being startled, so they kept their eyes on the Witch as they walked into a small brick building. But the group was not prepared for what happened next._

_**(Lyrics)**_

_Since the team was concentrating on the Witch, none of them heard the low, guttural growl over the loud storm. As soon as they rounded the corner, a loud roar erupted from behind them. They turned and saw something they all dreaded._

"_Holy shit! Shit, Tank!" Ellis yelled, pulling out his M-16 and firing stream after stream of bullets into the giant mass of Infected. The others joined him._

"_Kill him, kill him!" Rochelle yelled._

"_Oh, shit! It's coming for me!" Ellis suddenly yelled._

_Running didn't help. The Tank hit him hard into a nearby wall with its fist, and he was soon incapacitated._

"_I'm down!" he yelled to the others._

_The Tank started bashing him into the ground._

"_THIS IS CRUSHING THE SHIT OUTTA ME!" Ellis screamed, pain racking his body as the Tank continued its abuse._

_Just as his vision began to blur, he vaguely saw someone trying to lead the Tank away. Even in his disorientated mind, Ellis could definitely see that it was Coach._

"_C-Coach…" he murmured, his world starting to go black._

_Just before he could slip into unconsciousness, he felt something warm grip him around his waist and help him up._

"_C'mon, kid! No time for sleeping!" Nick yelled, giving Ellis a light slap across the face. At first, he didn't get a reaction, but the second time, the boy jerked up, awake and alert._

"_Where's C-Coach and R-Rochelle?" Ellis shakily asked._

"_Well, Coach led that Tank away from you, and Rochelle went to help Coach fight it," Nick explained. They heard the sounds of gunshots and screams fill the air. "Now we gotta go find them and help finish the Tank off," Nick paused as Ellis coughed violently. "And when we get to the next safe house, you need to dry off. Last thing we need is for someone in the team to get pneumonia."_

"_O-okay," Ellis responded, trying his best not to slip into unconscious. Nick kept a firm hold on him._

_**(Lyrics)**_

_When the two reached the source of the gunshots, they found something they hoped they would never see._

_A dead Rochelle, and a fatally wounded Coach. The former football coach waved them over._

"_Tha' Tank's still 'round," he whispered grimly. "I can go out there and distract it so y'all can get outta here."_

_Of course, Ellis didn't take this well._

"_We're a team. You can't die on us, Coach," Ellis whispered sadly, tears coming to his eyes._

"_I ain't gonna make it, boy. You, at least, can make it with a couple of health kits. And unless Nick kills ya, you'll both make it back to the boat," he finished with a small chuckle, which quickly turned into a moan of pain._

"_Here ya go, man, take this," Ellis said, handing Coach an adrenaline shot. But Coach shook his head._

"_Ya need it more than I do, boy. Ya look dead on your feet."_

"_But-"_

"_No, Ellis."_

_Ellis felt tears coming to his eyes once more._

_Coach turned to Nick._

"_Nick, I want ya to promise me that you'll get this kid outta here. When I yell, you take him and run as fast as ya can to the next safe house."_

_Nick nodded sadly and kept a grip on Ellis as Coach got up and limped to where the Tank was hanging around. As expected, Ellis struggled weakly against Nick's hold, but failed at getting out of it. A roar echoed through the air._

"_NICK! TAKE ELLIS AND GO, NOW!" they heard Coach yelling._

_Nick tightened his grip on Ellis and ran as fast as his legs could carry him. Ellis once again struggled to get out of his grip. Nick stopped for a second, picked Ellis up off the ground and shouldered him. He then carried on running for the next safe house. The Tank's roars got louder._

_Nick risked a look behind him and saw the Tank chasing him and Ellis. He rounded a corner, put Ellis down and faced him._

"_Ellis, I need you to go to the safe house. That Tank is going catch up to us soon, and when it does, I'll distract it while you make a run for it."_

_Ellis shook his head._

"_Naw, Nick. I ain't losing ya, too."_

"_Ellis, just listen to me. There should at least one of us who survives this Hell, and it isn't going to be me."_

"_I'm the injured one; I should distract the Tank while you run for the safe room."_

"_No, Ellis."_

"_Why?"_

_Nick sighed softly._

"_We don't have enough time for me to explain. Take this and read it when you reach the safe house," he said, handing Ellis a note. "The three of us (Coach, Rochelle and him) wrote that should something happen."_

_Ellis started crying again._

"_Hey, don't cry. Remember, grown men don't cry," Nick whispered. "Hey, remember all that shit I was saying?"_

_Ellis nodded sadly._

"_I was just joking, alright."_

_Ellis nodded again as he turned and ran for the safe house._

_(End Flashback)_

_**(Lyrics)**_

-Ellis  
>If you're reading this, then that means that the rest of us aren't with you. This is to explain why we did what we did.<br>You were the youngest of the group, making you the kid of the group. A while ago, the three of us discussed what would happen if we all were in a situation when only one or two of us could get out of this Hell alive. We were going to make sure that if the rest of us fall, that you at least get outta here alive. And don't stop moving just because we're not there anymore. You must keep moving, if not for yourself, then for us. One day, you'll understand.  
>-Nick, Coach and Rochelle<p>

Ellis finished reading the note, his vision blurring once again. He couldn't believe what his friends had done for him. The three people he now called family. He pulled out his First Aid Kit and finished bandaging himself up. He had to get back to the boat, that is, if Virgil hadn't left already. He coughed violently again. He had forgotten that he was meant to dry himself off.

'I'll worry 'bout that when I get back to the boat,' he thought.

He kicked open the safe room door and stepped into the rain.

_**(Lyrics)**_

Ellis got all he needed and climbed onto the roof of the Burger Tank restaurant. He had the idea to turn on the Burger Tank sign in order to signal Virgil back in the safe house. As soon as he turned it on, the screams and howls of the Infected filled the air.

"That's right," he muttered. "C'mere an' let me beat the shit outta ya!"

Every Infected that came by to attack him never lasted long. Not even the Specials could attack him. Hunters were beheaded by Ellis' katana when they pounced, Smoker tongues were sliced in half as they wrapped around him, Chargers charged right past him, and were killed with a stream of bullets from the M-16, Jockeys had their spines broken from the sheer force of Ellis' katana in their backs, Spitters were killed before they could spit, Boomers were killed before they could puke, and, by some miracle, he managed to kill any Tank that came by. His anger came in handy, especially when the Tanks made an appearance.

Before the boat arrived, however, he heard something that he thought he would never hear again.

_**(Lyrics)**_

"Ellis!"

Someone was calling him. Even over the sounds of the storm and the Infected, he could hear. But Ellis thought that he must be imagining things.

Then, suddenly, something white caught his eye. He looked and saw a figure staggering towards him. The figure called to him. Ellis immediately knew who it was.

"N-Nick?"

The figure came closer, and indeed, it was Nick. A bedraggled, injured, but not dead Nick. Ellis, overcome with joy, couldn't help himself and ran over to his friend, pulling him into a bear-like hug.

At first, Nick just stood there, not really knowing what to do. Then slowly, but surely, he wrapped his arms around the kid, giving Ellis some solid proof that this was the real Nick standing there, and not some vision in his head.

Ellis held onto Nick, refusing to let go at first. But then Nick pulled away to look at him. A boat horn sounded.

"Ellis, we need to get to the boat, okay? Don't worry, I'll be right behind you," Nick assured him.

Ellis nodded and jumped onto the boat, Nick following suit. Virgil pulled away from the docks and onto the open water.

They went into the boat to get rested up. They dried off and got warm. Ellis' cough still persisted, but it didn't sound serious. Nick realized that Ellis was following him everywhere, refusing to let the conman out of his sight. Nick chuckled.

"He's such a kid," he mumbled. He turned to Ellis.

"Ellis, are you okay?" he asked. He remembered that Ellis took quite a beating from that Tank.

"If ya mean, physically, then yeah," Ellis replied, a bit surprised at the sudden concern from the ex-gambler. "But if ya mean emotionally, then not really."

Nick just stared at him. Ellis continued talking.

"I thought ya were a goner for sure, man. I didn't really expect ya to come outta nowhere, alive an' not dead. I really thought I lost the only family I had left."

"You ain't going get rid of me that easily," Nick chuckled, folding his arms. "Even though you can be a real pain in the ass, we're a team. And you know what a team does?"

Ellis looked at him with a smile.

"They stick together…"

_**(Lyrics)**_

* * *

><p><strong>I know that not everyone can stand this song, but I really wanted to make this.<strong>

**Sorry if Nick was a bit OC to you; sometimes I go off the characters a bit. That, and I wanted to show that Nick DOES have a caring side!**

**And to those who don't like the song, then just read the story. To those who can stand the song, try listening to the song while reading this.**

**Please R&R and tell me what you think!**

**Until next time D-ZombieDragon **


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